Originally posted by DrTeeth
On word of advice if you're going to have a root canal: make sure your sufficiently anaesthetized. They decided not to give me an injection because they thought my nerve was already dead but when they came to the root I "found out" there was still some life in it. So I had to decide if I wanted an anaesthetic for the remaining 30 seconds, I declined and experienced the most horrible 30 seconds of my life after that.

Reminds me of when my dad had a tooth swell up over a holiday weekend. He was in so much pain, he paid the dentist to rip it out with a needle-nose pliers in the dentist's basement, no drugs of any kind.

When I went to have my root canal done, they put novocaine in but it wasn't working. So they ended up putting 5 shots of novocaine in and it worked! It worked to the point that I felt like I was choking and couldn't breath. I had to sit up because I thought I might choke to death. And my ears and nose became numb. And the smell of the drill was awful. And having your mouth open for so long was a bitch. And trying to talk afterwards was fun!

Reminds me of when my dad had a tooth swell up over a holiday weekend. He was in so much pain, he paid the dentist to rip it out with a needle-nose pliers in the dentist's basement, no drugs of any kind.

No no no! Don't do it! They are nasty, nasty things. I personally would never have one for anything. I attended a day-long workshop on dentistry a couple of years ago and the things I learned were horrifying. I just did a quick google and this article sums it up although was not the source of information I had received. But it's pretty common knowledge in the alternative health community (in which I am very much engaged) that root canals are evil.

Wow thanks for that info. I had no idea that kind of information was out there. Why is it dentists and oral surgeons or endo's are so adamant about people having root canals? I just don't get it other than it feeds money into their bank accounts! It didn't work for me and I don't think I'd ever have another one. I do, however, have a guy who can do it painlessly!

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Quote:

Originally posted by Carek1230 Dental insurance actually sucks

Amen!

I had a root canal/temporary cap during the summer and am waiting until the new year to finish it (I "used up" my insurance for this year ). By the time it's all said and done, it will over $1000 out of pocket, for one tooth! Plus the dentist office quoted me the wrong estimate, so I got a $300 bill from them I wasn't expecting.

And prior to the root canal, they had a "watch" on this tooth for six months. I had been to the dentist twice in those six months and they said nothing. Then in 3 months, the tooth suddenly goes from just a "keep an eye on it" but there's nothing wrong yet to full blown root canal ! The tooth never hurt before either.

How did that happen? "Oh, sometimes decay can happen really fast", they said .

Originally posted by Carek1230 Wow thanks for that info. I had no idea that kind of information was out there. Why is it dentists and oral surgeons or endo's are so adamant about people having root canals? I just don't get it other than it feeds money into their bank accounts! It didn't work for me and I don't think I'd ever have another one. I do, however, have a guy who can do it painlessly!

The same reasons that 4 gynecologists wanted to take out my uterus as the only way they know how to cure uterine fibroids--money is one of them. I don't think that is the only motivation because there are excellent doctors/dentists out there with a lot of integrity who simply practice using what they learned in med school and they either don't have time to, or aren't interested, in expanding their knowledge. Uterine fibroids can be shrunk extraordinarily quickly with systemic enzymes but most gynecologists simply don't know this. It blows my mind that they sat there and told me that fibroids were the #1 reason they see women--yet I realized they actually knew very little about them! The only thing they know to do about them is surgically remove the fibroids or remove the uterus altogether--costly, painful and completely unecessary procedures. I had done so much research that when I asked questions about specific procedures I'd learned about they actually gave me blank looks and said "I honestly have never heard of that" and I informed them it was a procedure now being done at Johns Hopkins and at the Fibroid Medical Center of Northern California--which they had also never heard of. I learned about the enzymes though my own research to save my uterus and it has been 100% effective.

Not to come across as some know-it-all, but with the internet people have access to a wealth of information and have the opportunity to be very, very informed before they even get to the doctor's office.

It's the same with dentistry. The workshop I attended, simply because it's an area of interest to me, was given by traditionally trained allopathic medical doctors who throughout the course of their practice started seeing how a lot of what they were taught in med school caused more harm than good, and they began exploring alternative ways of treating their patients. They were very credible people and it was very eye-opening.

You know after reading all of these stories I can really sympathize a lot! I have no dental insurance just can't afford it. So whenever I go to the dentist it's straight out of the pocket which majorly hurts. Can remember going for a deep cleaning one day and the dentist didn't even finish it. Made me come back in another 3 months and charged me another $50 to finish the cleaning! What do they think we are made of money?! Know I really need some fillings but honestly I can't afford it right now. Have this major obsession with teeth too and am terrified of losing any. Btw my oldest brother had a root canal done and it actually turned out pretty well for him. No pain but he had a pretty good dentist who did it too. I really hope your situation works out for the best Angie. LivLuv what your dad went through sounds painful as hell! Good luck too Carek. 's to all of you who are having a rough time.

Originally posted by joyfulgirl
Not to come across as some know-it-all, but with the internet people have access to a wealth of information and have the opportunity to be very, very informed before they even get to the doctor's office.

This however presents a whole other boatload of problems.

Just because somebody is able to read up on a topic on the Internet does not mean they are able to make an informed decision on it. Especially when it comes to highly scientific research, you can read until you are blue in the face but unless you have a very solid background in the topic you will never be able to understand the biochemistry itself and so you are in effect either being told the doctor's version of the truth or the homeopath's version of the truth. If you are a biochemist or a molecular biologist or a virologist, you can come to a conclusion based on your own knowledge of the subject matter because you can read research data and understand it. If you are not, I have grave doubts about what level of understanding can be reached by a member of the general public.

I find some things in the alternative health theories to be very interesting. And I find some of what they preach to be infuriating. So it's always a really tough thing to comment on, as I think it varies from scenario to scenario.

ETA: One good example is the much touted research into HRT and how it is related to women and breast cancer. You will often hear people in the public or in the media referring to this study, and especially in the alternative health community. However, I really wonder how many people who will just toss out "I heard HRT gives people breast cancer" have ever read the study? I am willing to bet that less than 0.1%. Because had they read it they would be able to immediately point out the most obvious flaw with it that any researcher would spot in about 2.3 seconds flat.

Just because somebody is able to read up on a topic on the Internet does not mean they are able to make an informed decision on it.

I don't disagree with you at all. But doing your own research enables you to ask better questions and even challenge your doctors to dig a little deeper. I personally like a balance of alternative and allopathic treatments. There is indeed a lot of baloney in the alternative health community but I have been fed a lot of baloney by traditional doctors as well. I don't expect doctors to know everything and I am not angry when they don't. I do, however, expect them to be very informed within their area of specialty and not have the kind of tunnel vision I experienced with 4 of the best gynecologists in this area.

I also am fortunate to live in one of the alternative health meccas of this country and several of my closest friends are alternative health practitioners so I have access to a level of information that the average person may not have. Plus there is as much disagreement within the alternative health community as there is between the allopathic and alternative health communities so it is very difficult to know what to do sometimes when experts disagree.

I guess my main point is that it's okay to challenge your doctor--they do not and cannot know everything and you shouldn't just do something because your doctor said so without doing your own investigation to the best of your ability, especially when we're talking about major surgery or taking medications with potentially serious side effects.

I also mean no offense to you and others like you doing scientific/medical research. I truly do respect your work and your opinion and am grateful for it.

Oh I absolutely agree that the Internet has really empowered people to seek out the best medical care possible. Even in the pharmaceutical industry, for the first time ever, most of the promotional funds are being directed at patients (ie. ads in magazines, newspapers, TV, word of mouth) rather than physicians. In the 80s, it was most common to fly specialists out to a conference, lavish them with gifts and expensive hotel rooms and then rely on them to peddle the drug to the consumer, because the consumer oftentimes didn't know any better.

As a scientist I think you should question everything. Nothing in biology is black and white and neither should your treatment be. One of the things that has always annoyed me in the medical community is that they have a tendency to disregard what the patient is telling them about their body. We know our body the best and we know when something is off or something is wrong. And just because a test doesn't reveal it doesn't mean that you are imagining things. I have a genetic defect that was not recognized for 22 years because standard tests didn't pick it up and although I made numerous complaints to my GP and the endocrinologist, it took a long time for them to accept that sometimes bloodwork isn't all-telling.

I vote no. I have had a tooth pulled rather than have one, and it hasn't hurt me at all. I also have another tooth that 'died' on its own, it's still there and bad off but stopped hurting. To me, paying a thousand bucks for one tooth is insane. There is too much else I need the money for. Besides, the people I know who have had them always complain that they either didn't work, hurt anyway, or they had to have a second one or eventually had to get the tooth pulled anyway. No way.